The natural anatomical joint structures of an individual may undergo degenerative changes due to a variety of reasons, including injury, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, or post-traumatic arthritis. When such damage or degenerative changes become far advanced and/or irreversible, it may ultimately become necessary to replace all or a portion of the native joint structures with prosthetic joint components. Joint replacement is a well-tolerated surgical procedure that can help relieve pain and restore function in injured and/or severely diseased joints, and a wide variety of prosthetic joints are well known in the art, with different types and shapes of joint replacement components commercially available to treat a wide variety of joint conditions.
As part of the surgical repair procedure, the underlying anatomical support structures are typically prepared to receive the joint implant components. For example, the placement of a femoral implant component can typically involve preparation of the caudad portion of the femoral bone (otherwise known as the distal head of the femur). This may include surgical resection (e.g., cutting, drilling, rongeuring, scraping) of portions of the medial and/or lateral condyles of the femur, as well as the resection of other anatomical features of the femur and/or surrounding soft tissues. This preparation will desirably create an anatomical support structure capable of accommodating and adequately supporting the femoral implant component or components, which is ultimately secured to the femur. Similar surgical steps can be performed to the tibia and/or the patella, as well as other anatomical structures, as necessary.
One or more surgical guide tools or jigs can be used to assist the surgeon in preparing the underlying anatomical support structure(s). There is a need, however, for improved surgical guide tools and jigs to improve the accuracy, reproducibility, and/or ease of preparing underlying anatomical support structure(s) for an implant.